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<v Speaker 1>Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of

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<v Speaker 1>performance through strong human relations, team building, and golajving. This

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<v Speaker 1>is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host Paul

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<v Speaker 1>fella Aledo.

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<v Speaker 2>Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute Leadership Podcast.

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<v Speaker 2>It's episode five eighty six years ago. That's how long

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<v Speaker 2>it's been since the word COVID stopped being a headline

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<v Speaker 2>and started being a lived experience. For some people, COVID

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<v Speaker 2>is now a political talking point. For others, it's an

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<v Speaker 2>argument at a dinner table. For some, it's something they

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<v Speaker 2>would rather forget ever happened. For me, and for a

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<v Speaker 2>lot of leaders, listening to this, COVID was personal. I

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<v Speaker 2>was on the front lines. I watched patients struggle to breathe.

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<v Speaker 2>I watched such hospitals overflow. I watched systems bend, crack,

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<v Speaker 2>and in some cases break. I watched leaders rise, and

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<v Speaker 2>I watched leaders disappear when things got hard and COVID

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<v Speaker 2>killed my mother. That's not a statistic, that's not a graph,

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<v Speaker 2>that's not a case count. That's a chair at the

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<v Speaker 2>table that stays empty. So when people say that was

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<v Speaker 2>years ago, why are we still talking about it? Here's why.

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<v Speaker 2>Because leadership didn't stop being tested when the masks came off.

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<v Speaker 2>The uncomfortable truth is this, the next crisis will not

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<v Speaker 2>be handled the same way COVID was. It won't be

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<v Speaker 2>led the same way. It won't be communicated the same way.

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<v Speaker 2>Different political powers will respond differently, Different beliefs will shape decisions,

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<v Speaker 2>Different levels of preparedness will exist or won't. That part

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<v Speaker 2>is unavoidable. What is avoidable is pretending leadership somehow becomes

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<v Speaker 2>optional when things get messy. People still expect leadership. Patients

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<v Speaker 2>still expect care, Employees still expect honesty. Communities still expect

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<v Speaker 2>someone to be thinking ahead while everyone else is reacting.

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<v Speaker 2>Leadership does not get to opt out because the environment

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<v Speaker 2>is polarized. And one of the hardest lessons COVID taught

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<v Speaker 2>me was this, in a crisis, people do not care

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<v Speaker 2>what you believe. They care what you do. They care

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<v Speaker 2>if the plan makes sense, they care if the communication

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<v Speaker 2>is clear. They care if you show up consistently. They

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<v Speaker 2>care if you protect them. When the pressure is on,

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<v Speaker 2>I watch leaders hide behind talking points. I watched others

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<v Speaker 2>step forward and say here's what we know, here's what

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<v Speaker 2>we don't, and here's what we're going to do next,

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<v Speaker 2>and guess who people followed. Six years later, some leaders

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<v Speaker 2>are still waiting for permission to lead. They're waiting for consensus,

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<v Speaker 2>they're waiting for perfect information. They're waiting for politics to

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<v Speaker 2>settle down. That's not leadership. That is delayed, disguised as caution.

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<v Speaker 2>COVID also exposed something else we don't talk about enough.

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<v Speaker 2>Preparedness is not a document, it's a mindset. You don't

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<v Speaker 2>become calm in a crisis if you never practice clarity.

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<v Speaker 2>You don't suddenly communicate well if you avoid hard conversations

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<v Speaker 2>and normal times. You don't magically earn trust when pressure

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<v Speaker 2>hits if you spent years burying it. Leadership debt always

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<v Speaker 2>comes due in a crisis. And here's the part that

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<v Speaker 2>makes some people uncomfortable. The next crisis may not look

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<v Speaker 2>like a virus. It might be cyber. It might be infrastructure.

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<v Speaker 2>It might be economic, it might be social, it might

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<v Speaker 2>be something no one has even named yet. But the

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<v Speaker 2>leadership test will be the same. Will you tell the

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<v Speaker 2>truth early, even when it's incomplete. Will you protect people

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<v Speaker 2>before you protect optics? Will you take responsibility without pointing fingers?

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<v Speaker 2>Will you stay visible when it would be easier to disappear.

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<v Speaker 2>COVID showed us who was prepared to lead without a script.

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<v Speaker 2>It also showed us how quickly people forgive leaders who

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<v Speaker 2>were honest, even when decisions are imperfect. What people don't

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<v Speaker 2>forgive is silence, spin or cowardice. Six years later, the

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<v Speaker 2>question is not what did we learn from COVID? The

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<v Speaker 2>question has been asked to death. Honestly, the real question

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<v Speaker 2>is what did you change? Did you build better systems,

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<v Speaker 2>did you improve communication? Did you clarify decision authority? Did

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<v Speaker 2>you train leaders to think under press sure? Did you

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<v Speaker 2>personally get better at being uncomfortable in the spotlight? Or

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<v Speaker 2>did you move on in hope lightning doesn't strike twice?

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<v Speaker 2>So here's the leadership reality check. People will always rely

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<v Speaker 2>on leadership to keep them safe, even when leadership itself

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<v Speaker 2>is under attack, when the environment is divided, even when

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<v Speaker 2>trust and institutions is shaky, even when every decision is

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<v Speaker 2>criticized in real time. That responsibility does not disappear because

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<v Speaker 2>it's inconvenient. So if COVID taught us anything worth carrying forward,

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<v Speaker 2>it's this Leadership matters most when it costs you something,

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<v Speaker 2>your comfort, your popularity, your certainty. Six years ago the

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<v Speaker 2>world changed. Now what now? You decide whether you're the

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<v Speaker 2>kind of leader people want standing there when the next

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<v Speaker 2>moment hits. So I'll be honest, this was a hard

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<v Speaker 2>one for me to record. I had to record it

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<v Speaker 2>probably two or three times to make it through. Leadership

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<v Speaker 2>is not about winning arguments. It's about protecting people. It's

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<v Speaker 2>not about being right. It's about being ready, and it's

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<v Speaker 2>not about the crisis that you survived. It's absolutely one

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<v Speaker 2>thousand percent about how you show up for the next one.

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<v Speaker 2>This has been the seven minute Leadership Podcast, and I

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<v Speaker 2>thank you for listening.

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<v Speaker 1>For more Paul Fell of Alito Podcasts, visit paulfellowalito dot com.